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Developer withdraws plans to replace 19th century home in Roxbury with four-story apartment building
By adamg on Tue, 04/11/2017 - 1:05pm
Developer Patrick Hoban sent word to the Board of Appeals today he was withdrawing, at least for now, his plans to tear down the house at 63 Perrin St. and replace it with a 35-unit apartment building.
Hoban had originally been scheduled to go before the board in January, but asked for a deferral until today. The board voted allow him to withdraw his proposal "without prejudice," which means he can resubmit plans at a later date.
Nearby residents and City Councilor Tito Jackson had both vociferously opposed the proposal, partly because of the house's historic nature - it was once home to retail pioneer S. S. Pierce, in a neighborhood of 19th-century homes - partly because they felt that number of units would cause traffic problems on the narrow Perrin Street.
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Comments
When it was owned by The
When it was owned by The Boston Islamic Center it unfortunately fell into foreclosure and there were numerous unreleased Tax Takings thereafter. So the developer has flirted with the bank already? Are they in the middle of buying the property from the bank?
Not historic.
Ok, first, just because a house is once home to S.S. Pierce does not make it "historic". Second, traffic problems are going to happen - it is a city. What is not happening in the city is more housing that the working class people can afford which is sorely needed because of those who throw around the "can't knock it down, its historic" and "what about the traffic" reasoning. It is getting old people.
I so happy that my town voted down the Community Preservation Act. Too many developments, in certain towns, are stopped because of NIMBY-ISM hiding behind the "historic" label.
Hopefully ..
Does your town have a "Universal Hub" you can post to, instead?
Actually, that's a pretty
Actually, that's a pretty good definition of historic, over 150 years old, represents a certain architectural style.
Preserving single family neighborhoods or smaller apartment buildings is not a strong example of NIMBYism.
Tito Prefers Displacement to Growth
Three thoughts:
Perrin St has numerous apartment buildings on it, as do the neighboring streets, as a cursory google maps investigation will show.
This kind of historic preservation everywhere attitude is a thin disguise for NIMBYism.
The only thing shown to reduce displacement in a tight housing market is more construction - neighborhoods see less displacement when more supply is built in them. Supply and demand works in housing like everywhere else. Yet, Tito opposes it.
It's lovely how this self appointed tribune of the people of Roxbury is only working to ensure their neighborhood will become too expensive for the current residents in the not so distant future.
A supply and demand solution
A supply and demand solution is not going to work how you want it to. Actually, it sounds like they are just working to preserve an area that is mostly smaller apartment buildings because not everything needs to be turned into massive housing developments.
Apartment buildings not so numerous on Perrin Street
Well, not really.
There are two apartment buildings that front Perrin Street, one of them a repurposed city school, with parking access in the back, the other an extension to an existing house, appropriate in scale to the neighborhood.
The other two apartment buildings are corner buildings that front onto Alaska and Waverly.
A quick survey yields about ten to a dozen originally single-family houses, with five row houses.
So basically what you're saying is...
...this building would not be unprecedented.
A club to beat up on Tito
No, I don't say that.
build baby build constructs his club to whack Tito upon the false premise of numerous apartment buildings.
He can fix his premise and take his club back in hand; or, he can drop the club.
He seems to care not for the Perrin Street neighborhood, but rather seems focused on accusing Tito Jackson of supporting a NIMBYism that serves to gentrify the very neighborhood Tito is sworn to represent. And, of declaring him a self-appointed tribune, when he is an elected representative.
Perhaps the withdrawn apartment building is a wise addition to this street, or perhaps not.
In any case, the cursorily gathered facts in his argument are false.
Important Historical Asset
The Williams Mansion on Perrin Street is a highly important surviving Italianate house from the first period of Roxbury's expansion in the mid 19th century. It is listed as part of the Moreland Street National Historic District as well as in the inventory of the Massachusetts survey of important historical buildings in Boston. The question of whether it was the home of the founder of S.S. Pierce or not is really not the issue.
What makes this house historically important is not only the people who lived there but the quality of the architecture and the way it contributes to the overall historic quality of the National Historic District that it is part of. Perrin Street is a rare example of a historic street in Roxbury that has seen little destruction over the years. It was mercifully spared by urban renewal and retains a character and charm that is highly important as evidence of the historic importance of this area.
Not only is it historically important but the quality of life enjoyed on this street by the present residents is also to be considered. This is a street of primarily owner-occupied homes and families, a place where generations of people have led their lives and raised their children. To destroy those qualities of this street with an out-sized hulking apartment building that is eleven times larger than allowed by zoning verges on something criminal. Not only is the building a problem from the size standpoint, but if you review the plans, it was a building that made no attempt via its design to harmonize with the existing qualities of the neighborhood. It was very good that this project did not proceed.
There are far more responsible and interesting ways to work with the existing Williams Mansion to rehab it and build new condos around it that respect the quality of the neighborhood. The argument against what the developers were trying to do was not to keep people out but to prevent the construction of a building that was obviously designed as an over-sized "dorm" with student type housing.
People need to review the plans for what was being proposed before making knee-jerk assumptions. Any person who reviews those plans will see that plainly this project was a bad idea. The BPDA agreed, and thankfully the developer also saw the error in this plan.